I left out an important step in the 'step-by-step eviction process'.after serving you with the 'notice to cure' he has to serve you with a '30 day notice to quit (or terminate)' if you haven't rectified the situation. This notice is a VERY scary & threatening one. If you feel his accusations are baseless and can prove them wrong in court, then stay put...KEEP PAYING RENT! if he accepts rent after serving the 30 day notice his case can automatically be dismissed. By accepting your rent, he's acknowledging that you are a tenant in good standing. It's against the law for him to collect after serving the 30 day notice.

If after 30 days you haven't vacated the premises, he can then serve you with eviction papers. The court date will usually be within two weeks of service. On his eviction papers (which will undoubtedly be filled with fabrications and half-truths to make you look like an ogre) he will have to swear under oath and with the risk of penalty of perjury that he has not collected rent from you since the service of the 30 day notice.

The rest is as I described it in the previous post.

One more tidbit of knowledge i gained from this awful experience...I'm not sure what county you live in, but here in nassau county Landlord/Tenant court, NOTHING - and i mean NOTHING goes to trial. Everything is either dismissed or both sides are railroaded into settlement by the presiding judge. I don't recommend going in unprepared to defend your right to live on the premises, but you must go in there with a clear knowledge of what you want the end result to be. If your landlord has a lawyer, unfortunately, you should get one too.

After having been thru it i would say cut your losses. If he won't negotiate and he serves you with 30 day notice - even if you think you're right - move if you are able to and don't mind doing so. Litigation is unbelievably stressful and time consuming (and $$ consuming if you have to get a lawyer). That is what your landlord will count on - it's cheaper for most people to just move than it is to hire an atty.

We didn't have the time or financial resources to move at the time all this was going on, so we had to stick it out. fortunately, we have a lot of attorneys around us as friends and family. We scraped up whatever legal advice we could from them and from resources such as this one and put toghether our case. We went to court three times with him.

First time his case was dismissed (he said we didn't have a lease, even though he'd been accepting rent after we excercised our option to renew).Second time we got railroaded into a settlement, which ended up costing him a months rent (we got one free!)Third time, we took him to small claims court for the return of our security depost. We won.

There's a great deal of satisfaction that goes along with getting justice done in our favor - but the end result? the stress has torn my family apart. Was that worth the payoff? Still pending...

I realize I've gone on and on here. i hope this all makes a little bit of sense.

Good luck!~Kenny

: Your landlord is entitled to make all the demands he wants to make. Unless you agree to them, that's all they are - demands.

: If you have a lease signed by both parties, one party cannot change the terms unilaterally. Period. If you are paying your rent and he is accepting it, you are covered under the terms of your lease.

: You didn't specify what his demands were so I can't offer you any insight in that area. I can tell you, however, that unless there was en emergency in your apt. (flood, fire, etc.) he is NOT allowed to enter your apartment without your consent or 24 hours reasonable notice. That clause is probably in your lease. If he does it again, have him arrested.

: Don't panic!!! You will not be thrown to the street on February 1. If he makes any attempt on his own to do so, he is breaking the law and don't let him tell you differently. The eviction process is a step-by-step process. He first has to find you in default of some element of the lease. Then he has to have you served with a 3 or 5 day 'notice to cure', meaning that whichever lease item you are in breach of, you must fix or correct it. If you fail to correct it, then he can serve you with an eviction notice. Then he has to take you to court and prove his claims of breach. Keep paying your rent!

: It sounds like he wants to negotiate a new lease - make sure that you get something in it that you can live with - he's got to give something to get something. If you can't come to terms together on a new lease, then you should both agree on a reasonable amount of time (30 or 60 days?) for you to move out. GET IT IN WRITING IF YOU GO THIS WAY!!! keep in mind, he'll want to show the apt during this time, which is reasonable, but try to get a '24 hour reasonable notice' clause in your agreement.

: Make sure that the written agreement releases both of you from all the terms of the lease on a specific date and that as long as you deliver the premises in good broom-clean condition by that date, he will make no claim on any part of your security deposit.

: I am not a lawyer, but I just went through a simiilar situation. I am now, unfortunately, all-too-familiar with the law and the process.: If you want to reply directly to me, i'll be happy to give you any advice from my own experience that i can give.

: Once again...DON'T PANIC. you are not going to be forced to find a place and move in 5 days.

: ~Kenny

: : : Apartment is in Stanfordville, NY I have a lease, and to my knowledge the building is private own and not stabilized or controlled. There are 7 apartments on this property (2 homes divided up,there are 4 units in my building): : My landlord is making demands on me that I can't afford and are not in my lease, I explained to him that I will have to move. He said I am breaking his lease and that he had details to tell me. When I returned home I noticed that someone was in the apartment, when I called him on it he said " Yes I was and also the lady next door" he also went on to tell me he was allowed to enter my apartment whenever he so wished. I called the State Police and the Tropper explained to me then to the landlord according to his lease he the landlord must give me the tenant notice when entering my apartment. Now scared and confused that this landlord will do something else to me, how many days do I have to get out? I am paid through January, but I am afraid that I will not be able to find a place to live in the days left of this month. My family and friends live 600 miles away so I can't even go there. Please help me understand my rights I just want to find a safe place to live.